Pennsylvania's Youth Suicide Prevention Initiative
The Pennsylvania Youth Suicide Prevention Initiative is a multi-system collaboration to reduce youth suicide.
Vision
Suicide prevention through awareness, screening, intervention, and treatment will be embraced and incorporated into the fabric of every community in Pennsylvania to address the social and emotional needs of youth and risks and survivors of suicide.
Since the 1980s, Suicide claims the lives of over 1,300 Pennsylvanians each year—an average of 3.5 lives each day. It is estimated that each suicide directly affects six people. Therefore, over 7,800 Pennsylvanians become survivors of suicide each year. Suicide is one of the leading causes of death for young people ages 15-24. Data from the Centers for Disease Control indicate that approximately 500,000 teens attempt suicide each year. Pennsylvania Youth Suicide Prevention Plan
The Advisory Committee of the Office of Mental Health and Substance Abuse Services (OMHSAS) prioritized a state suicide prevention plan as one of the major goals for OMHSAS. A work group was formed and began to meet in July 2005. This prevention plan is a collaborative effort between those dedicated individuals from both the public and private sectors of our state. The work group is striving to raise awareness about suicide and its prevention so that fewer Pennsylvanians experience the pain and grief resulting from the suicide death of a loved one.
Former US Surgeon General David Satcher presented the Call to Action to Prevent Suicide in 1999 in which he stated that the problems of suicide and suicide prevention are critical public health priorities for our nation. The National Strategy for Suicide Prevention debuted in 2001.
Pennsylvania Youth Suicide Five-Year Action Plan, 2007-2012
Suicide and Self-Injury Among Pennsylvania Youth (Ages 10-24): data from the Department of Health's Violence and Injury Prevention Program
Members of the Pennsylvania Suicide Prevention Monitoring Committee
(listed alphabetically by last name)
Doris Arena, Office of Mental Health and Substance Abuse Services
Lonnie Barnes, Department of Health, Bureau of Drug and Alcohol Programs
Pamela Bennett, Pennsylvania Council of Children, Youth and Family Services
Harriet Bicksler, Office of Mental Health and Substance Abuse Services
Virginia Biddle, Jefferson Medical College
Darlene Black, Office of Children, Youth and Families
Bill Boyer, Office of Mental Health and Substance Abuse Services
Heidi Bryan, Feeling Blue Suicide Prevention Council
Roberta Chuzie, Pennsylvania Network for Student Assistance Services
Myrna M. Delgado, Department of Education
Larry Demooy, Delaware County Juvenile Probation
Guy Diamond, Children's Hospital of Philadelphia
Judith Dogin, Community Care Behavioral Health
Stephen Gensemer, Department of Health, Violence and Injury Prevention Program
Mary Margaret Kerr, Services for Teens at Risk (STAR-Center), Western
Psychiatric Institute and Clinic
Virginia Mastrine, Office of Mental Health and Substance Abuse Services
Jill Morrow-Gorton, Office of Development Programs
Deb Neifert, Mental Health/Mental Retardation Program Administrators Association of Pennsylvania
Sherry Peters, Office of Mental Health and Substance Abuse Services
Connell O'Brien, Pennsylvania Community Providers' Association
Arlene Prentice, Juvenile Court Judges' Commission
Denise Short, Office of Mental Health and Substance Abuse Services
Claudia St. Onge, NAMI Pennsylvania, Inc.
Becky Stephens, Office of Children, Youth and Families
Carol Thornton, Department of Health
Carol Ward-Colosante, Office of Mental Health and Substance Abuse Services
Matthew Wintersteen, Jefferson Medical College
Vick Zittle, PA Chapter, American Academy of Pediatrics, Pennsylvania Child Death Review
For more information, contact Sherry Peters.
The Pennsylvania Suicide Prevention Initiative is a Public/Private Ongoing Collaborative including: Survivors of Suicide, Statewide & Regional Representatives from Departments of Public Welfare, Health, Education, and Aging, Juvenile Court Judges’ Commission, County MH/MR Administrators Association and several county programs, County CASSP Coordinators, American Trauma Society, The STAR Center, PA Child Death Review Team, PA Protection and Advocacy, PA Psychiatric Society, PA Association of School Social Workers, NAMI of PA, Mental Health Association of Southeastern Pennsylvania, Mental Health Association of PA, PIN of PA, PA Del Val NAPNAP, a County Medical Examiner, a City Health Bureau, a State University, a Behavioral Health MCO, Common Roads, Juvenile Detention Center Association of PA, Pennsylvania Community Providers Association, Pennsylvania Council on Children, Youth, and Family Services, Providers and Student Assistance Program Trainers, School Districts, Yellow Ribbon Chapters, Feeling Blue Suicide Prevention Council, multiple county task forces and other grassroots organizations.
